Transformation
by Lexi The Writer
Summary: She wasn't much of a looker in high school but after her best friends gave her a makeover, Kori Anders has been catching the attention of guys all over, especially Richard. Chp 3 updated.
1. Chapter 1

"Wow...look! Is she new?"

"I don't know, but she's sure as hell hot though!"

"Hey hottie! I forgot my phone number. Can I have yours?"

Men. The less intelligent of the two genders. One day I'm at my desk, unnoticed by them, with my fellow worker and best friend Rachel Roth reading a romance novel and dreaming about being beautiful. And well.. the next my older sister gives me a makeover and now I'm the new sex symbol at the Daily Planet. Well I suppose I should start at the beginning.

My name is Kori Anders. I am a reporter at the Daily Planet, one of the biggest newspapers in the vast growing city of Metropolis. I moved here right after I graduated from Jump City High with Rachel to follow my dream career in journalism. Rachel wanted to be a journalist as well so she followed me. Basically my social status in high school was not one to brag about. I was classified under the geeks, which was saying something, since losers were above them in the social food chain. Rachel and I were the outcasts, well, so Katherine Moth aka Kitten said. We did have some popular friends like Victor Stone and Garfield Logan. They were jocks, the nice kind, if you could tell. The mean ones, were, well mean to us. Except for one.

Richard Grayson, Kitten's boyfriend would occasionally stick up for me, but most of the time he just sat there while he asshole friends Johnny and Slade made fun of my glasses, braids, and braces. Which I admit, were good targets if you didn't notice the freckles, gangly legs, and thick eyebrows. High school was a hell on earth. A lot of the time I would sit at home and be depressed. After I studied and did chores of course. I was nothing like my older sister, Katie, who was a socail butterfly and head cheerleader in her day. She lived in Metropolis too. In the same apartment complex. She took me under her wing when I came here and got me and Rachel our jobs.

I admit, she was mean to me when I was a freshman but after she moved out and left Jump City, something changed about her. She became nice. She was like my other best friend nowadays. All three of us will hang out at my apartment and chow down on Top Ramen while making fun of our bosses. We all came up with crazy things to do sometimes. Which leads me to my transformation, as Rachel calls it.

We were watching the Princess Diaries and were munching on some of my world famous double chocolate chip brownies when Katie jumped up from her side of the couch.

"I just got one of the world's greatest ideas!" She proclaimed as if she figured out the cure for cancer.

"What? How to catch Ashton Kutcher?" I giggled.

Rachel rolled her eyes.

"I'm sorry Kori, but if I hear another one of your Ashton kidnapping schemes I will walk out that door right now." Rachel stated in a monotone.

"I think Rach is serious." Katie smirked.

"Don't call me Rach." Rachel interjected.

"No but anyways, we should give you a makeover!" Katie said.

My eyes widened with shock.

"Oh yeah, NOW you noticed I need a makeover." I said rolling my eyes as I threw a pillow at her.

"Well that was back when I was the ice queen." Katie dissed herself.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, you were a jerk. As in the past, it already happened." I said.

"I wouldn't go too far Kori." Rachel smirked.

Katie glared at her.

"Well now I'm giving you a makeover too, just for saying that." Katie frowned.

"You wouldn't." Rachel asked, a hint of concern in her voice.

"I would." Katie then laughed.

"Well when would we even do it?" I wondered aloud.

"How about now? I'll pull out my beauty products and magazines! Oooo! Kori, we will get you a man." Katie squealed and ran out the door to her apartment.

I looked at Rachel, her eyebrows were raised and I shrugged.

"Well you know, you could probably seduce the boss into getting us a promotion.." Rachel began.

"You aren't serious are you?" I scoffed.

"Well Terra did. And look at her. She's head journalist of the Daily Planet." Rachel exclaimed.

Whoa, did Rachel just say something with emotion? Everyone is losing it. I mean I look like that dead girl from the Ring, only with red hair. And even a makeover wouldn't change that.

"Ok I'm back." Katie said from under a pile of beauty products.

"Is that you, or are you the Cosmetics monster?" I questioned her as she set everything down on the floor.

"Ha ha." Katie said rolling her eyes.

"Wow. You use all of that?" Rachel asked eyeing some of the black eyeliner.

"No, I just get a lot of samples and supplies from work. Being the vice president of Beauty U gives me those perks, you know?" Katie said as she pulled my hair up in a messy bun.

"Rachel, do you want to help turn her into Cinderella?" Katie asked as she pour out some facial mask mix into a bowl.

"I would be honored." Rachel said as she grabbed a bowl full of water.

"Oh no...w-w-why are you guys giving me that craze look?" I stammered as they lunged at me.

After hours of scrubbing my face, plucking my eyebrows, straighting my hair, applying painful contacts, and makeup, Katie finally nodded her head.

"She's gorgeous!" She yelled.

"Truly stunning." Rachel nodded in agreement.

"May I see?" I asked as they handed me a mirror.

I screamed.

"Wow. We made Kori scream." Rachel said.

Katie and Rachel looked at each other and cheered.

"We did it." Katie said.

I touched my cheek with my hand. There's no way this could be me. My face has never been this soft, since like I was baby maybe, but since then..And my eyebrows weren't a huge forest of hair, they were normal! My hair wasn't all crimpy and curly...it was straight, long, shiny, and soft...My eyes were a lil watery from the contacts but they weren't hidden behind huge, thick glasses. They were a brilliant shade of jade green. My eyes were traced with a thin line of black eyeliner and my lashes were huge from the volume mascera. My cheekbone was a pale pink and my lips were a pearl pink. I looked at my friends and slowly smiled. I felt the tears coming. I think they saw them coming too.

"You better not cry, I only brought the normal mascera." Katie said.

"Right. Thank you soo much! I really appricate this, a lot!" I hugged my two best friends.

"Now Rachel will be next tommorow, I'm heading to bed." Katie said as she walked out the door.

"Wait! You forgot your makeup!" I yelled running after her.

"Keep it. Rachel will come over in the morning and help you apply it."

"Geez, thanks Katie." Rachel said sarcastically.

"Your welcome." Katie smiled.

"I was being sarcastic." She grunted.

"And I was talking to Kori, now nighty night." Katie said.

I turned to the mess and began to clean it up. Rachel helped me. It was pretty quiet after that. She then turned towards the door after putting away the mascera and sighed.

"What's wrong?" I asked walking near her.

"I'm sorry I didn't mention this earlier...but I heard that some guy was coming over to work with us at the Daily Planet." Rachel frowned.

"Oh it's ok, I don't mind that I'm out of the social circle of the Planet." I said as I sighed with relief as I picked up a bowl from the floor.

"Well no, it's because it's someone we know. You know, from Jump City."

I felt a lump form in my throat.

"Who?" I asked.

"Richard Grayson." Rachel answered.

The bowl hit the ground and shattered everywhere.

* * *

Well this is my new romance novel. I know, big step for me. Well hopefully since it's winter break I'll be able to update more of my stories. Ok and sorry about Punk'd: Bb and rae style. I been busy reformating it, and typing up stuck in an elevator and I been busy and yadda yadda. But they are both half way done. Anyways I apologize for any grammer mistakes I made. It's like midnight and I'm exhausted. Well I signing off for bed. Oh and now Rob/Star couple is confirmed, thanks to Go! . Yay!

Lexi The Writer


	2. Chapter 2

_"Well no, it's because it's someone we know. You know, from Jump City."_

_I felt a lump form in my throat._

_"Who?" I asked._

_"Richard Grayson." Rachel answered._

_The bowl hit the ground and shattered everywhere.

* * *

_

"Kori? Are you ok?" I heard a voice from the distance. I didn't know where I was. I think maybe the limbo of my mind, but that wasn't important. What was important was Richard. He was coming to write at the Daily Planet? Many questions rushed through my head. Was he still dating Katherine? Would he recognize me? Would he even remember me? Wait. I doubt he knows who I am. I shook my head slowly and Rachel appeared. Her eyes full of worry and sadness. "Kori?" She whispered.

"Huh?" I answered somewhat lamely.

"Your hand is bleeding!" Rachel said as she grabbed my hand.

"Oh yeah." I said. I was still dazed from the whole Richard thing.

"We need to go to the hospital. Come on, I'll drive." Rachel said as she grabbed her keys and my good hand. She dragged me out the door and to the elevator. When I finally regain all senses and was out of that place, I pulled my hand away while using it to apply pressure to the cut. The pain went shooting up my arm and I winced. Rachel must've seen because she then put her arm around me. "Hang on. We're almost to the car." Rachel said.

"Okay." I replied in a small voice.

We finally reached Rachel's honda and she drove towards Metropolis Hospital. I looked down at my hand and saw my skin started to turn white. I felt my eyes grow wide and then, before I knew it, I was in a room. Rachel and Katie were looking down at me and so was another person...someone familiar... "She awakens!" The person cried out, and then I remembered.

"Garfield?" I asked.

"The one and only." He said as he pointed his thumb at himself. I giggled. Same ol' Garfield. Hadn't changed one bit. Rachel was rolling her eyes.

"What I don't get.." She began, Garfield looked over towards her, "...is how you became a doctor when you are vegan?"

"Well that's one of the reasons I am vegan. I saw my parents perform surgeries and every time I look at meat, I imagine animals and people." Garfield shuddered.

"Well that's good and all, but how is she going to be?" Katie asked.

"Fine, just fine. She'll be out in of here in the morning." Garfield explained as he wrote some things down on a clipboard. When he did look up, he smiled his cheesy grin and looked at me.

"I didn't even recognize you until I read your info. Kori Anders, 20, Metropolis." He said suddenly becoming serious.

"Why did you cut yourself anyways?" He questioned me.

I sighed. Might as well get this all out in the open. I explained to everyone about Richard coming to work at the Daily Planet and I how all those questions rushed through my head. Once I finished, everyone looked at me like I was floating around the room. Katie was the first to recover. "Well you know, I doubt he's still seeing Katherine Moth. She's a model over in New York and is dating Xavier Black." Katie stated.

"And I doubt he would recognize you, seeing as I didn't." Garfield said.

"He probably remembers you." Rachel said bluntly.

"And he does know you exist because he sometimes stood up for you." Garfield said.

I shrugged and looked down at my newly bandaged hand. Why do I care anyways? It's not like I had a crush on him anyways. Sure, he was attractive in high school. For all I know, he could be hideous looking now. The thought of him looking hideous made me smirk. Katie seemed to have noticed because she laughed. "Awww...Kori likes Richard." She teased.

I threw my pillow at her and frowned. "Whatever, I was merely smirking at the fact that he could be ugly now." I said as I brushed my hair behind my ear.

"Sure.." Rachel said rolling her eyes.

"Hey! We should all get together tommorow night. Victor is in Smallville working for Lex Luther but I'm sure he can make it." Garfield said.

"_The_ Lex Luther!" Rachel, Katie and I exclaimed.

"Yeah, how many Lex Luther's are there?" He asked.

"Wow. Victor sure has it made." Rachel said.

Katie handed me my pillow back, gave me a hug, and left while Rachel and Garfield were conversing about politics. I slowly closed my eyes and the next thing I knew, Rachel woke me up. "Come on Sleeping Beauty, time for work." She said as she threw some work clothes at me.

I almost rubbed my eyes when I remembered that I still had the makeup on from last night. I got up and pulled the curtain close while I changed. As I opened it, I saw Garfield was already talking to Rachel animately and she was actually smiling and nodding.  
I cleared my throat and the two stopped talking. I hugged Garfield, told him that I would see him later and I grabbed my car keys.

"Come on, I'll drive." I said as I linked my arm with Rachel's and dragged her to the car.

"Sure." Rachel breathed, since I caught her offguard.

As I reached the building, I pulled into my parking space and put my car in park. I then locked the doors and looked at Rachel. "So what's going on?" I asked.

"Nothing much." Rachel said as she looked through her paperwork.

"I mean with you and Garfield."

She looked up and I saw a fair shade of pink creep onto her face. "What do you mean?" She asked trying to keep her monotone voice from faltering.

I smirked. "You like him, don't you?" I asked.

"How did you know?" She stammered.

I grinned. "I didn't." I said.

Rachel frowned. "Bitch.." She uttered.

"You'll get over it, and I think he likes you back." I said punching her in the arm.

She rubbed it and looked down. "I know he does, which is why I can't like him." She got out of the car and made her way into the building.

I got out, locked the car, and ran after her. I grabbed her arm. "Explain." I said.

"Later." She said as she walked inside and got into the elevator.

"How later?" I asked.

"In the solitude of our own office." She muttered as Terra walked into the elevator.

"May I join you guys?" She asked.

"Sure.." I said.

Rachel glared at her until she reached her floor. She walked out without a further word. And that's when a very attractive young man, around my age, walked into the elevator. I almost didn't notice him. I was listening to Stairway to Heaven, by Led Zeppelin. I couldn't believe that they actually used that song for elevator music. This was a total insult to them. If you didn't figure out by now, I love Led Zeppelin. I glared up at the speaker, hoping it would miracously explode so the song wouldn't have to play in an elevator.

"This is a total insult to Led Zeppelin." The man said.

I nodded, not taking my eyes off the speaker. "I think whoever decided to place this under the elevator music category should burn in hell."

"I agree." He nodded.

I turned to get a gook look at him and almost gasped. The long locks of ebony hair, the bright crystal blue eyes, the slight tan skin. Oh my god, I was looking and talking to Richard Grayson. I felt my hands sweat, and I looked over at Rachel, who also noticed who it was. Richard didn't recognize me, but he turned to Rachel. "Rachel Roth, is that it?" He asked.

Rachel nodded. Richard shook her hand and smiled.

"Nice to see after these years. How have you been?" He asked.

"Good, so what made you decide to come and work here?" Rachel questioned him.

"My Uncle Bruce is good friends with the Co-owners, Clark Kent and Louis Lane." He said.

"Ah." Rachel nodded.

Richard then turned to look at me.

"I'm Richard Grayson, and you are?" He asked as he held out his hand to shake.

I stared at him and finally said.

"Kori. Kori Anders."


	3. Chapter 3

Wow thank you for all the reviews! I would love to reply to every single one of them, but I am too lazy and busy to at the moment. This chapter will probably focus on Richard Grayson, Kori Anders, and Roy Harper aka Speedy. So we're going to hear Kori's and Richard's thoughts about this. But anyways, here we go.

* * *

_Richard then turned to look at me. _

"I'm Richard Grayson, and you are?" He asked as he held out his hand to shake.

I stared at him and finally said.

"Kori. Kori Anders."

* * *

**Kori's POV**

Richard looked at me, his mouth slightly open.

"Kori Anders? The girl who I always stood up for when Slade, Katherine or Johnny went to go make fun up?" He then smiled.

"Well I guess we're going to be hanging out more often huh?"

I felt the nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach leave, and a new feeling came from inside of me, anger. What did he mean always stood up for? Maybe once in a while, but it's not like every second of the day when one of his friends were mocking me, he appear from beside of them and tell them off. It wasn't even really standing up for me. It was more of a "Hey guys, let's go bug someone else." Not real knight in shining armor like if you ask me. More like a loser in aluminum foil. I then did something I would probably never forget ever again. I told him off.

"Oh yeah, telling your friends to go pick on someone else counts as standing up for me. And another thing. Where the hell did you come up with always stood up for? More like when you were in a good mood then you stood up for me. Your one of the purposes why you made high school hellish for me. And now you except me to hang around you like nothing ever happened? Did you sincerely think I overlooked the 4 worst years of my life? Yeah, right."

And forgetting about Rachel altogether, I stormed off towards my assignment, leaving Richard taken back from my eruption there. As I marched by the other cubicles, I noticed a lot of people's heads shoot up. And a few guys were making remarks.

"Wow...look! Is she new?"

"I don't know, but she's sure as hell hot though!"

"Hey hottie! I forgot my phone number. Can I have yours?"

Then I guess after they checked out my breasts, they noticed my identification.

"Damn. That's Kori Anders!"

"Who?"

"You know, that girl who always ask questions during the conferences and always turns in her work on time."

I felt the outrage simmer up internally and I halted dead in my tracks.

"You know, I can hear every word you _children_ say." I growled.

"Good, so you will you go out with me to dinner sometime?"

"What do you think?" I commented as I strolled away.

"Ok then, see you at 8 tomorrow."

I ceased walking again and swerved around."Well your obviously not telepathic because my answer is no." I uttered as I eventually made it into my cubicle.

"Ooh...spunky huh? Well it looks like someone fancies you, Roy." I rolled my eyes and settled down. As I waited for my computer to turn on, Rachel came in and sat down.

"Wow. Someone got a call from their Aunt Flo today." She observed.

"He had a right to be chewed out." I snarled.

"Well you know, he did look hurt when I went off after you." Rachel pointed out.

I grinned and opened my article on how the president's raise on taxes was absolutely moronic. (I write for the opinion column.) "Well he ought of felt that way when his dumbass buddies were picking on me." I mentioned as I began to type the finishing touches on my work. Rachel said nothing and got to work on her story about how the president of Beauty U magazine planed to have an agreement with cosmetic agencies so they can start sending off free samples in the mail to their subscribers. I heard a knock on the wall and saw Terra standing there. She smiled at me and made no motion to acknowledge Rachel, who didn't appear to mind. "Kori, the boss would like to talk to you." Terra said as she flipped her hair back over her shoulder.

"Tell him my article is done and it will be printed out and turned in 15 minutes."

"That's not what I mean." She announced as she grabbed my arm and pulled me out of my office.

We preceded down the hall towards the boss's office. On the way I saw some of the Planet's heads. Gregory Morrison, Marvin Manson, and Jennifer Spellman. As I opened the door, I heard the boss's voice.

"Ah Kori, please sit down." He said.

"Yes Mr. Chang." I answered and noticed Richard was gawking at me like I was an alien or something.

He noticed us look at each other and introduced him to me.

"We already met." I said calmly.

"I should be going. I have to move into my office." He said and he left while trying to get me to look at him. I continued to gaze at my boss, who began to give me a weird look.

"So I notice you decided to get a make over." He spoke in a seductive voice.

I refrained from rolling my eyes.

"Yes I have, sir. Is this why you wanted to see me?" I asked.

"No. I was wondering about how you feel about me promoting you to front page." He asked.

My eyes opened wide.

"Are you saying you want me to be one of the lead journalists?" I stammered.

"Yes." Came his reply.

"Wow sir, I don't know, wow." I said.

"Please Kori, call me Ling." He said.

"Yes Ling, but I was wondering if it would be a problem if my friend could be promoted with me?" I asked.

"Well I'm not so sure about that..." Mr. Chang, or should I say, Ling said in a serious tone.

I then remembered what Raven said last night about seducing him and was almost considering it. That's when my senses came back and smacked me in the face. I then smiled weakly and said, "It was worth a try, right?"

I then walked out of his office and went to get my things. Rachel looked at me and frowned.

"Don't tell me he got you fired?" She asked.

"Nope, I just got promoted." I said.

Rachel opened her mouth.

"Wait. You just got promoted? What about me?" She asked.

I bowed my head.

"I'm sorry, I tried." I said.

"As in you didn't want to seduce him." She stated as she went back to her work.

"Hey, me and Katie still owe you a make over, especially since we have dinner with Garfield tonight." I said.

Rachel blushed at this but said she'll see me at break and I walked towards my new office. After I opened the door and placed everything where I wanted it to be (My pictures of me, Katie, and Rachel, plants, and candles), I then checked my email. I heard a knock on my door and saw Richard standing there. I then ignored him. I didn't really feel like yelling right now.

"Listen." He began as I send an email to Rachel.

"I'm sorry about not standing up for you more. And I'm sorry I made your high school years hell. But you still had no right to yell at me like that, considering I was already planning to apologize and try to be your friend."

I looked up from my email. "Oh. Did you want to be my friend since you felt sorry for me or because of the fact that I look like a damn super model? And why didn't you become my friend back in high school?" I retorted.

"I was a bastard and jock back then." He said.

"Well your wrong. Garfield and Victor were jocks, but they still were my friends. They stood up for me more than you did too. And your wrong about being a bastard back then." I said as I pushed him out of the office.

"Your still one now." I said slamming the door in his face.

I sat down and decided to read one of my romance novels. At least they normally calm me down.

* * *

_**Richard's POV**_

I stood there and frowned. Damn, she really hated me. Then again, I'm not surprised. I wasn't exactly a knight in shining armor for her. I walked back into my office and got on aim. I then noticed that Garfield and Victor were online. We were all friends back in high school, but we never really acknowledged it, considering they hated my friends and my friends weren't too fond of them either. I decided to call Garfield and Victor.

"Hey guys." I said.

"Sup Richie Rich?" Victor said.

"Hey." Garfield answered.

"So it didn't work, she hates me." I said.

"Well what did you say to her?" Garfield asked.

"I asked her if she was the Kori I always stood up for back in high school." I said.

"Ouch. That probably made her mad." Garfield answered.

"You don't know the half of it." I said.

"Hey I have an idea. We're suppose to meet the girls over at a restaurant tonight. Why don't you com along and we can get you and Kori together?" Victor said.

"Yeah. That'll work. Kori will probably throw the table at him." Garfield said.

"Wow. You just did a perfect impression of Rachel." Victor answered in awe.

"Shut up." Garfield mumbled.

"Well I have to go. I'm going to head over to my place and get ready." I said as I hung up.

* * *

Good huh? Well next chapter will probably be including a fight thatreveals some hidden feelings, some people making out in an apartment, and another makeover which will bring some fantastics results. Happy Superbowl's eve!

Lexi The Writer


End file.
